Corypheus
} |name = Corypheus |image = Corypheus Closeup.jpg |px = 270px |affiliation = Tevinter Imperium (formerly) Darkspawn |gender = Male (formerly) |race = Ghoul Darkspawn |title = High Priest of Dumat (formerly) Magister (formerly) The Conductor of the Choir of Silence |rank = Elite Boss |class = Mage |voice = David Sterne |appearances = Dragon Age II - Legacy Heroes of Dragon Age Dragon Age: Inquisition |specialization = Blood Mage }} Corypheus (lit. "The Conductor") is an ancient darkspawn who was trapped inside a Grey Warden prison in the Vimmark Mountains. Background House Amladaris was considered mediocre, Sethius middling, but he believed himself deserving of more. According to one of his slaves, whose words were somehow preserved in the Fade, Sethius was never a cruel man, but the weakening of the temples and the loss of his followers had brought fear into his heart. With the other Magisters Sidereal, he discussed ways to return the people of Tevinter to the ways of the Old Gods.Note: The Claws of Dumat As a result, when Dumat started whispering to Sethius in his dreams, promising to raise him to godhood if he entered the Fade to claim the Golden City, Sethius heeded the call.Canticle of Silence Unable to accomplish this extraordinary feat on his own, he called on the other six high priests of the Old Gods for help. However, as only one of them would be raised to godhood, they schemed against each other for power, hid their identities and assumed aliases to protect themselves. Sethius took on the name of Corypheus, the Conductor of the Choir of Silence, as he led the Magisters Sidereal, co-ordinating their efforts to achieve a magical feat never accomplished before.Codex entry: Corypheus The Magisters succeeded in physically entering the Fade in -395 Ancient; the spell reportedly required two-thirds of the lyrium in the Tevinter Imperium and the lifeblood of several hundred slavesCodex entry: The Cardinal Rules of Magic, presumably elven ones as Corypheus believed that the elves of old were tied to the Fade. According to Chantry lore, when the Magisters Sideral entered the Golden City, their pride and desire corrupted it, turning it black. The Maker, on his throne inside the Golden City, cast them down and turned away from his children. However, according to Corypheus, the Golden city was already black when they reached it, and the throne of the Maker was empty.Dialogue with Corypheus at the end of Legacy (quest)Dialogue with Corypheus during In Your Heart Shall Burn }} To capture him, she used the blood of Dumat, whose remains had been preserved in Weisshaupt Fortress. To ensure that no one would know the secret of the spell she'd used to seal Corypheus away, she destroyed Dumat's remains. The Wardens initially hoped they could use Corypheus as a weapon against the darkspawn, but interrogation proved futile, as any Warden in his vicinity became mysteriously drawn to his influence. When removed from the area, they would have forgotten anything prior, and would be left dazed.Codex entry: A Change of Course This appears to be a type of call to anyone bearing the taint, similar to that emitted by the Old Gods, which draws darkspawn and Warden alike to his prison. When it became clear that no Warden could stand in his presence without being influenced by him (rendering controlling or killing him impossible), Warden-Commander Daneken had the prison sealed to bind Corypheus in perpetuity. During the early years of the Dragon Age, the seals keeping Corypheus locked began to weaken. Since no Warden could safely approach the prison, Warden-Commander Larius approached a Fereldan apostate named Malcolm Hawke and forced him to use blood magic to strengthen the seals inside the prison. This ritual had been carried out at least once before, by The Shame of Serault, then Marquis of Serault in Orlais.Asking for a gift from the Horned Knight in Dragon Age: The Last Court }} Involvement Dragon Age II Dragon Age: Inquisition After the newly reformed Inquisition negotiates an agreement with the rebel mages for their assistance in closing the breach, the Herald of Andraste manages to close the breach using the anchor. Samson and the Red templars launch an attack on their base at the village of Haven. Corypheus personally takes the field alongside his forces, even unleashing his ultimate weapon:a high dragon corrupted by red lyrium. Eventually Corypheus manages to corner the Herald and attempts to reclaim the anchor, only to discover that the anchor is permanent and cannot be removed. Though upset at this setback, Corypheus vows to start over and decides to kill the Herald to eliminate a potential rival; however the Herald fires the last remaining trebuchet resulting in an avalanche which buries the village and forces Corypheus to flee. Corypheus then attempts to destabilize the Orlesian Empire to quash any further resistance in southern Thedas. Taking advantage of the War of the Lions over the throne, Corypheus sways Grand Duchess Florianne de Chalons to his cause, offering her rulership of Thedas in return for murdering Empress Celene and framing Florianne's brother, Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons for the crime, elminating both candidates for the throne and leaving Orlais leaderless. As the Inquisition foils the Venatori's attempts to raise a demon army and destabilize Orlais, Corypheus redirects most of his efforts searching for elven artifacts to achieve his end, aiming to gain through magic what he had failed to acquire through force and duplicity. Finally locating the Well of Sorrows at the Temple of Mythal in the Arbor Wilds, Corypheus deploys all his remaining forces to breach the temple and claim the ancient knowledge within. With his army devastated and his designs foiled, Corypheus returns to the Temple of Sacred Ashes and in one last attempt to crush his enemies, reopens the Breach. Corypheus confronts the Inquisition soldiers stationed at the Temple ruins and proclaims that the Maker is a falsehood and he would be the new god. When the soldiers rebuff him, Corypheus unleashes a wave of Terror demons which massacre most of the squadron. The Inquisitor and their inner circle arrive with a platoon of Inquisition soldiers to confront Corypheus. Corypheus causes huge chunks of the ruins and surrounding mountainside to rise out of the ground into the breach, reshaping them into a miniature version of the Black City. The Inquisitor and three of their companions are left trapped and cut off from their allies. Corypheus moves to kill them with his Red Lyrium Dragon; however, as the Dragon attempts to attack, another dragon (either the Guardian of Mythal, if the Inquisitor drank from the Well, or a shapeshifted Morrigan, if she drank) tackles it out of the way. Enraged, Corypheus clashes with the Inquisitor in one final battle, unleashing his new red lyrium enhanced magic and summoning a pack of Shades to assist him. In the midst of the clash, Corypheus's dragon manages to disable the Inquisitor's, just as Corypheus is wounded. Corypheus momentarily withdraws and unleashes the Dragon on the Inquisitor personally, only for the Red Lyrium Dragon to be slain soon after, disrupting Corypheus's ability to leap into other bodies. Rendered vulnerable, Corypheus resolves to see the world destroyed if he cannot rule it. But as the Inquisitor grows close to winning, Corypheus refuses to accept failure after all he has endured and tries calling out to the Old Gods, Dumat in particular, for aid, only for the Inquisitor to rip the orb from his grasp with the Anchor and seal the Breach with it. The Inquisitor then uses the Anchor to hurl Corypheus into the Fade. }} }} Strategy Quotes * "Be this some dream I wake from? Am I in dwarven lands? Why seem their roads so empty?" * "The light. We sought the golden light. You offered... the power of the gods themselves. But it was... black... corrupt. Darkness... ever since. How long?" * "The City. It was supposed to be golden. It was supposed to be ours." * "If I cannot leave with you, I will leave through you! I seek the light!" * "You are nothing! All you love will be ground under the Imperium's heel!" See also Notes Trivia * Defeating Corypheus earns the player the achievement "Conductor". Classical Greek κορυφαῖος (koryphaîos) means "conductor of the chorus," or "the leader of a party or interest".http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corypheus * Corypheus is described as relentless, ambitious and beyond arrogant. He is arrogance personified, and believes he operates on a level no other being can comprehend.Writing Villains * According to writer Patrick Weekes, he sees Leliana as the character having the most in common with Corypheus. Both are "burned believers." In fact, Weekes refers to Corypheus as Leliana's "dark mirror."Nerd Appropriate with Patrick Weekes. * Sethius had a wife; it is not known whether he had any children. Gallery Corypheus Large DA2.png|Corypheus in Dragon Age II CorypheusHoDA.png|Corypheus in Heroes of Dragon Age Corypheus tarot.png|Corypheus tarot card References Category:Characters Category:Dragon Age II characters Category:Legacy characters Category:Heroes of Dragon Age characters Category:Dragon Age: Inquisition characters Category:Tevinters Category:Magi Category:Blood mages Category:Darkspawn Category:Magisters Category:Magisters Sidereal